Advanced Features and Techniques of Embedded Systems Software Design

Course Description

This course will help software engineers fully utilize the components available in the Zynq® All Programmable System on a Chip (SoC) processing system (PS). This course covers advanced Zynq All Programmable SoC topics for the software engineer, including advanced boot methodology, the NEON co-processor, programming PS system-level function control registers, the general interrupt controller, the DMA, Ethernet, and USB controllers, and the various low-speed peripherals included in the Zynq All Programmable SoC processing system.

Release Date

March 2017

Level

Embedded Software 4

Training Duration

1 Day

Who Should Attend?

Software design engineers interested in fully utilizing the Zynq extensible processing platform

Prerequisites

• Embedded Systems Software Design or equivalent knowledge
• C or C++ programming experience
• Conceptual understanding of embedded processing systems, including device drivers, interrupt routines, AMD Xilinx Standalone library services, user applications, and boot loader operation
• Experience developing software for embedded processor applications

Skills Gained

After completing this comprehensive training, you will know how to:

• Implement an effective Zynq All Programmable SoC boot design methodology
• Create an appropriate FSBL image for flash
• Identify advanced Cortex™-A9 processor services for fully utilizing the capabilities of the Zynq All Programmable SoC
• Analyze the operation and capabilities of the DMA controller in the Zynq All Programmable SoC
• Examine the various Standalone library services and performance capabilities of the Ethernet and USB controllers in the Zynq All Programmable SoC
• Describe the Standalone library services available for low-speed peripherals that are contained in the Zynq All Programmable SoC PS

Course Outline

• Advanced Boot Methodology on the Zynq All Programmable SoC
• Zynq All Programmable SoC Boot Details
• Demo: Create a Boot Image
• Lab 1: Boot Loading from Flash/SD Card
• Advanced Cortex-A9 Processor Services
• Advanced DMA Controller Configuration on the Zynq All Programmable SoC
• Lab 2: Performance Analysis of DMA Usage
• High-Speed Peripheral Configuration on the Zynq All Programmable SoC
• Lab 3: Introduction to lwIP (lightweight IP stack)
• Low-Speed Peripherals on the Zynq All Programmable SoC
• Lab 4: Sharing PS Resources with the MicroBlaze Processor – Software

Lab Descriptions

• Lab 1: Boot Loading from Flash/SD Card – Explore the principles of creating a bootable flash image based on a First Stage Bootloader (FSBL) project.
• Lab 2: Performance Analysis of DMA Usage – Analyze the performance of DMA transfers within a memory or between two different kinds of memory by using the TCF profiler.
• Lab 3: Introduction to lwIP – Add the lightweight Internet Protocol (lwIP) stack to an embedded system and use it in a simple Standalone library application. The complete design includes both hardware and software.
• Lab 4: Sharing PS Resources with MicroBlaze Processor – Explore separate software applications on the Cortex-A9 and MicroBlaze™ processors that share DDR3, PL block RAM, PS timer, and PS UART resources. The applications demonstrate passing messages between the two processors and simple semaphore usage.